


Waking Into Nightmares

by Morgelyn



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Dreaming!Reek, Fear, Ficlet, Gen, M/M, Nightmares, Poor Theon Greyjoy, Ramsay Bolton is His Own Warning, Thramsay - Freeform, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21718273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgelyn/pseuds/Morgelyn
Summary: Not entirely unexpectedly, Reek has a nightmare.
Relationships: Ramsay Bolton & Reek, Ramsay Bolton/Reek
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	Waking Into Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little vignette I wrote whilst battling insomnia.

Knives, knives and blood. Screaming and incoherent begging, as the knives cut things away from him. Not just skin and body parts, digits and appendages, but an entire person. A person he had never been, should not even remember having cut out of him, because he had always been Reek and never this other person. And that was why the knives kept cutting and he kept screaming.

Reek continued to scream, broken cries tearing from his throat. But he could also hear himself scream from outside. The two sounds merged into one as he realised that he had been dreaming and now he was awake, his ragged clothes soaked with sweat and his emaciated body curled into a panting ball on the rug. He was on a rug. Not the kennels. He must be indoors, he must be...

Panic ripped through his confusion. Ramsay's chamber. He hazarded a glance upwards and, sure enough, an inscrutable face regarded him from the bed across the room. He had awoken him.

“Sorry, m'lord, sorry,” he began to babble, dragging himself up on to his knees. “Sorry, I was dreaming and...” He stopped suddenly. The bottom dropped out of his world as a terrifying thought occurred to him: what if he wasn't _supposed_ to dream? He had never been given permission, after all. It was just like him, he thought, to have been disobeying so often without even realising it. This was going to be bad, worse even than the punishment for waking his master up with his nonsense. That would probably have just gotten him some time sleeping elsewhere, in the kennels or even the dungeons, away from the soft rug and the warm fire and the occasional scraps of food when it amused Ramsay to give them. But for daring to assume he had the right to escape his master's direct control for a single second, to hide in his own mind without permission – he would lose something for that. A finger. A toe. Just some skin, if he was lucky. And he had so little left to lose. Fear made even further apologies impossible and he hung his head, hunched shoulders trembling.

Ramsay sat up in bed, regarding him quizzically. “Dreaming? Tell me, Reek – what do you dream of?”

Reek tried so hard to think of the right thing to say, the response least likely to make things worse and end in more punishment. But it was so difficult to think at all, let alone at a moment like this with his broken mind befogged by fear. His mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.

“I'm waiting for an answer, Reek.” Ramsay's voice, still husky with sleep, was now tinged with the slightest irritation.

Reek's head twitched and he knew had to answer. And the only answer he could think of was honesty. He looked up at Ramsay and forced the words to form, his voice quiet and shaky, as he hoped it would be enough. “You, m'lord. Always you.”

Reek held his breath as Ramsay stared at him, his face impassive, for what seemed like an Age. Then Reek flinched as he broke into a sudden grin. “Good. Now go back to sleep, and continue to dream of me.”

Reek lay back down on the rug, confused but relieved. If it was a trick of some sort, he couldn't fathom it and so there was nothing to be done but obey. There was never anything he could do but obey.

“And Reek,” said Ramsay softly, his voice muffled by pillows as he sank back into sleep. “If you ever wake me up like that again, you'll wish you hadn't.”

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from an album by Warbringer.


End file.
